My daughter and I stayed at the Inca Real for two nights July 2010. Charming old colonial hotel in the historic district of Cuenca. The staff was extremely helpful and wanted to ensure everything was fine in our “habitacion”. The only problem, and the reason the hotel does not have five stars, is that the water in the shower was barely warm enough to take the off the chill and Cuenca mornings and nights are a little on the cool side. When I was asked how our room was I asked about hot water and the reply was “Sorry, but the pipes are old and the hot water sometimes doesn’t make it to the second floor”. The rooms are smallish but not suffocatingly so, bathroom is a good size and shower is large, which is great unless you are on the second floor and have enough courage to shower in less than tepid water. Hotel is clean, beds comfortable and breakfasts wonderful (made to order omelets, scrambled eggs etc., plus a buffet style table where you can add pancakes, cereal, juice, fresh coffee or tea). We also ate at the adjoining restaurant one evening which specializes in Spanish food and decided on a selection of Tapas – all prepared with great care and extremely good. I recommend the hotel because of the staff, the ambiance and the delicious breakfasts – but if you want a hot shower make sure you are not on the second floor.

As English speaking first time visitors to Cuenca our experience was remarkable.
The staff spoke good English and all were pleasant and helpful, even offering to escort us to various stops to assist in translation. Inca Real has an excellent restaurant too.
We felt like we spent ten days with old friends!
Our daily questions were promptly answered. Historic Calderon Square and the official Visitors Information center were two blocks away. Also within a five minute walk were many excellent restaurants, laundry, and Dr Gustavo Sanchez, eye doctor (exam and new lenses).
After visits to 20 countries, our new favorite hotel is Inca Real!
Gary G, Asheville, NC USA

We stayerd here for 3 nights in March 2010 and really enjoyed it. The location is very close to the main plaza and we found the staff very helpful particularly the young receptionist Paola who had a great friendly attitute and nothing was too much trouble. The breakfast was good and served in the main courtyard.
Our room was large with two double beds and plenty of space. The bathroom was typical South American in that it was cramped and hot water took a long time to come through but hey if you don´t like that S America is not for you other than the international hotels and you wont find them outside of the main cities.

By the way the tourist office in the main square is very good and has good English.

We really liked Cuenca but be warned it is quiet at night particularly outside the weekend.

Tip: if you are moving on to Guayaquil take the local bus via Cajas. This takes you through the national park with spectacular views and cloud forest. The journey takes 4 hours and costs $8. The bus was on schedule and naturally much cheaper than flying, even LAN suggested the bus as we had a connecting flight to Lima and they felt the bus would be more reliable.

Even if you don't stay here, it is worth visiting this quaint colonial inn. We stayed for just our first night in Cuenca and then found the slightly less expensive Hostal Macondo. The attached tapas bar is very good... the bed was very hard!!!